Summertime: Confronting Risks, Exploring Solutions No. 114 : New Directions for Youth Development, Number 114

This issue explores the impact of the summer when the regular school year ends and public support for children declines, on young people. On average, students? achievement test scores are about one month lower when they return to school on the fall than when they left in the spring, according to a research synthesis. This decline in knowledge, known as summer learning loss, is typically more pronounced for math than for reading. Contributors to this issue examine the research on potential risks youth face during the summer, such as regressing on measures of knowledge and health.

Communities across the country can learn from promising and innovative practices for what has been one of the most persistent, but often ignored, youth policy challenges in the United States. The chapter authors describe young people?s summer growth potential and explore community-based solutions to address the need for all young people to have opportunities for learning and positive development over the summer months. Organizations, agencies, and individuals can and must work together strategically to ensure that all young people return to school in the fall ready to learn.

This is the 114th issue of the quarterly report series New Directions for Youth Development.

RON FAIRCHILD is the executive director of the Center for Summer Learning at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. The center works to create high-quality summer learning opportunities for all young people.

GIL G. NOAM is a clinical and developmental psychologist on the faculty of Harvard University and the founder and director of the Program in Education, Afterschool and Resiliency at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital.